Supporting undergarment for men



May 12, 1970 P. M. LARSON 3,511,234

SUPPORTING UNDERGARMENT FOR MEN Filed May 31. 1968 FIG. I. 4

INVENTOR Phyllis M. Larson BY W744 ATTORNEY United States Patent O m 3,511,234 SUPPORTING UNDERGARMENT FOR MEN Phyllis M. Larson, 1412 Julia Ave., McLean, Va. 22101 Filed May 31, 1968, Ser. No. 733,709 Int. Cl. A61f /40 US. Cl. 128-159 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A mans support garment of resilient material providing smoothly decreased support pressure from the bottom of the leg portions upwardly to the waist portion and having a scrotal pouch suspended at the top from a nonresilient abnormal panel which in turn is supported mainly from the waistband, said pouch being fastened at the bottom to the crotch portion and being open at both sides between said fastening areas to provide access openings and to prevent binding of the pouch or crotch portion 'by horizontal distension of the garment due to bending motion of the user, the garment having a vertically extending front opening covered by said pouch with extensible tension tapes edging the sides of said vertical opening to keep said opening from spreading too easily and to maintain horizontal support pressure of the garment throughout the buttocks region.

Mens shorts of the supporting type are known and are coming into increasingly wider use. A supporting short or undergarment is made of resilient fabric material designed to fit snugly around the upper legs and the lower trunk of the user, so as to tend to aid and stimulate the circulation of the user, and to provide abdominal support. It is desirable in such a garment that the horizontal tension of the material decrease smoothly with increasing distance from the lower edge of the garment, without local horizontal bends of binding or excessive pressure which would tend to restrict blood circulation of the user. It is also necessary that the principle of uniformly decreasing but not excessive pressure be maintained both in the standing position of the user and in sitting or bending positions which tend to stretch the garment in various directions and also to cause excessive pressure in the crotch region. All of the above factors have created problems in garments of this type.

It is the major object of the present invention to provide a supporting-type mens undergarment which satisfactorily overcomes all of the above difiiculties. According to the invention, a supporting garment is provided of resilient stretch material, except for a non-resilient abdominal panel, with a relatively independent scrotal pouch which is suspended from the abdominal panel; the pouch is also fastened at the bottom to the crotch portion of the garment but is open at both sides between said fastening areas to provide access openings and to prevent binding of the pouch by horizontal distension of the garment due to bending motion of the user, the garment having a vertically extending front opening coverded by said pouch with extensible tension tapes edging the sides of said vertical openings to keep said opening from spreading too easily and to maintain horizontal support pressure of the garment throughout the buttocks region. This is essential to keep the garment from being pulled out of shape sidewise by horizontal tension which in turn would tend to produce binding in the crotch portion of the garment. The unstretchable abdominal panel provides lifting support at the lower abdominal region of the wearer, and also provides vertically firm support for the pouch.

The specific nature of the invention, as well as other objects and advantages thereof, will clearly appear from a 3,511,234 Patented May 12, 1970 description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the garment according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view looking down into the interior of the garment;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the garment;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a front view of a modified form of the garment.

Referring to the figures, the garment has a waist band 4, preferably of stretch material, although if desired it may be of non-stretch material as shown in FIG. 5, with any suitable non-adjusting means, such as buttons or snaps 5; fastened to and depending from the waist band is a non-stretchable panel 6, generally hexagonal in shape, although it can also be quadrilateral in shape as shown in FIG. 5, where it is also shown as made in two sections 6a and 6b, so that it can be drawn over the hips prior to being buttoned around the waist. It will be understood that the panel 6 in FIG. 1 could also be made quadrilateral in shape as shown in FIG. 5 at 6a and 611', but without the buttons or snaps.

The garment has two main portions 2 and 3 extending from the waist band 4 to the thigh-encircling leg portions 8 and 9 terminating the usual hems. Main portions 2 and 3 are preferably joined at the rear by a vertical seam 19 and at the upper part of the front of the garment they are sewed or otherwise suitably fastened to the sides of panel 6 as shown at 6a and 6b respectively. At the lower part of the front of the garment, main portions 2 and 3 terminate in vertical hems to 14 and 16 running from parts 12a and 13a to the crotch panel 11 at points 12b and 13b respectively. Crotch panel 11 closes the bottom of the garment at the crotch area between the legs. A scrotal pouch 7 is suspended at its top from the bottom of panel 6, by a closed seam running along line 60, and at the bottom the pouch is fastened to the crotch panel 11, the sides of the pouch terminating in hems 12 and 13 which are free of the main portions 2 and 3 to thereby provide access to the pouch at either side, while the main body of the pouch overlies and covers the opening between hems 14 and 16 of the main portions 2 and 3, and also covers and supports the portion of the users body protruding through the opening between hems 14 and 16, while providing access thereto when necessary.

Although suitable for non-stretch garments, the above construction is intended primarily for use in a stretch garment of the type which aids blood circulation by providing decreasing pressure in the upward direction; i.e., the horizontal tension of the garment on the users body should be greatest at or near the bottom of the garment and become less towards the waist, thus supporting the wearers outer body in a manner tending to aid blood circulation, appearance of the user, and also posture due to the rigid abdominal panel, which tends to support the lower abdominal region and also to remind the user to maintain correct posture. In carrying out this principle it is important that the change in tension on the fabric be uniform under all ordinary conditions of wear, including sitting and bending or twisting, since otherwise there would be tendency for the material to be tensioned excessively along one horizontal band, or alternatively, in the crotch region, and to produce binding or impeding of the blood circulation, which is exactly the opposite of the desired effect. Since not all users are of the same physical distribution, even when nominally of the same size, the garment must provide some latitude for different users, by employing suitable material capable of considerable stretching without appreciable binding. Such materials are available in the art and usually have considerably more stretch in one direction than at right angles to that direction, and the garment must be designed to take into consideration the characteristics of the material employed. In the present garment, a vertical front opening between hems 14 and 16 is provided for by making the hems 14 and 16 so that they have considerably more tension along the hem line than the main material of the garment. To achieve this an additional stretch tape of suitable elasticity may be sewn into the hem to provide suflicient vertical tension to keep the garment from being pulled out of shape sidewise by horizontal tension when the user bends or sits down, and at the same time suflicient flexibility is provided to prevent binding through the crotch section. It should be noted that the unyielding abdominal pouch 6 tends to shorten or lengthen in accordance with scrotal muscle action primarily, rather than, e.g. knee bend, and since the pouch is suspended from this panel, it is in effect supported by the waist band independently of the body of the garment and therefore discomfort to the wearer due to a change in his position or attitude due to binding or rolling up is prevented.

The crotch piece 11 is also preferably made of stretch material having its greatest stretch in the longitudinal direction so that it cooperates with the tapes 14 and 16 to maintain the side vertical tension described above, while permitting the desired lateral extension of the fabric required for the circulation-assisting circulation effect. The pouch 7 is also preferably of stretch fabric and may be made of a single piece of such material seamed on itself at the bottom as shown at 21 to form a pouch. The hems 12 and 13 of the pouch, being doubled over, tend to be less easily stretchable than the main body of the pouch material, and therefore tend to provide the necessary support and also to maintain the hems 12 and 13 closely against the fabric of the main portions 2 and 3 to prevent a gapping of the pouch along these lines.

The principle of this garment may include various modifications, such as extra firm panels at areas requiring additional support, e.g. for obese people, thighenci-rcling leg portions of non-resilient material, e.g., as in boxer shorts, and in some cases the provision of some resilience in the abdominal panel.

It will be apparent that the embodiments shown are only exemplary and that various modifications can be made in construction and arrangement within the scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A mans support-type undergarment comprising (a) a waist band at the top of the garment, thigh-encircling legs at the bottom of the garment, and a crotch portion between said legs,

(b) a firm abdominal panel attached at its top edge to said band,

(c) a right-side and a left-side main portion of stretch material each extending from the waistband to down to the respective thigh-encircling legs,

((1) said main portions being joined in the rear from the crotch to the waist band,

(e) and being joined to respective sides of the abdominal panel at the top part of the front of the garment, but being forwardly open at the bottom front part of the garment,

(f) said open region being defined by two opposing generally vertical front edges of said main portions each running from the bottom edge of said abdominal panel to the crotch of the garment,

(g) said edges being formed by two stretchable tape members having less stretch along their length than the horizontal stretch of said main portion so as to tend to retain said front openings from widening when horizontal stretch occurs during use of the garment,

(h) a scrotal pouch suspended at its top from the lower edge of said abdominal panel and fastened at the bottom to said crotch,

(i) said pouch being open at the sides between said fastening points to provide generally vertical access openings in conjunction with said open region, said pouch normally covering said open region.

2. The invention according to claim 1, said main portions being of stretch material providing smoothly varying horizontal tension when in use, as said tension decreasing upwardly toward the top of the garment.

3. The invention according to claim 2, said crotch being formed by a crotch piece of stretch material having its greatest stretch in the lateral position.

4. The invention according to claim 3, said pouch being also formed of stretch material having its greatest stretch in the lateral position.

5. The invention according to claim 2, said abdominal panel being generally hexagonal in shape.

6. The invention according to claim 1, said Waist band being non-stretchable and provided with means for adjusting its size to the body of the user.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,255,931 9/1941 Kloster 128159 2,872,685 2/ 1959 Denbo 2224 3,441,022 4/1969 Severson et al 128159 ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 2224 

